18 November 2021

I won’t tell you what Ed asked us when we arrived. Some things just can’t be blogged. 

So choir removed their masks of all colours and kinds and sat brandishing copies of our festive songs from 2019 and Ed gave us details of our 2 rapidly approaching our door concerts. 

2.45 Wyke Square on Sunday 5 December for Wyke Christmas. Parking may when be an issue. 

Midday 12 December as part Dorchester Christmas Cracker. 

Looking ahead to next year we have been asked to sing in Fayre in the Square again because we are so good. But don’t panic about that right now. 

So we dived into the booklets, even tho someone said, It’s only November, beginning with Walking in a Winter Wonderland. 

It was request time, which was fun. Good King Wenceslas and O Holy Night got the shout out first. 

I was really getting in the mood. Ed chose Carol of the Bells and the room spilling into two. We were a little rusty, so Ed broke it down a bit. Well, a lot. He broke it down very carefully. Somebody dropped their dong. 

Please please over emphasise. We followed it with a strong song, Hark The Herald. We went from Dongs to a nice big churchy organ. I really fancy a mince pie now. Carol wanted mulled wine. We stood to give it our all. And give it all we did. 

Our treat for that was a Rock Around The Christmas Tree and we were Dreaming of a Wyke Christmas.

Verse one and verse three of O Come All Ye Faithful was long enough to get that descant on and quickly pursued by See Amid The Winter’s Snow but just one verse so we could tackle Holly And The Ivy. Yes. That version. And Ed was mightily impressed. 

Tonight’s parting earworm - Fairy Tale Of New York! 

Well done for getting all festive despite missing out on last Christmas all together. Keep carolling xxx

11 November 21

Nice new song sheets greeted us as well as some covid safety updates, before a nice warm up. As I had a week off last week, warm ups seem a very long time ago, because of working so hard on our concert. 

Then we commenced the singing with California Dreamin’ and Ed at the piano, ready to help us tighten up our melody. And definitely our timings. Oh and softening that ‘t’ in the second winter. 

Then Meridy stood to perform, and by we all stood too because those are the rules. Or something. Interestingly, we seemed to have left our cheekbones on our chairs when we stood so we had to stop and pick them up again. Thanks for waiting, Ed! 

I Can Wait Forever came next. Did you do your homework last week? Linda had done her homework. I didn’t because I was off. Ed broke it down for us. The timing is crucial with this one. Your ‘I’ mustn’t be too big. Ed isn’t sure what to do with the end that fades out. But thanks to Linda Ed will be much more sensitive to his dynamics. 

Let’s talk about Christmas, said our Choir master. Song singing will start next week, for God Only Knows if we will even have somewhere to carol. Root out your Christmas 2019 booklets and bring them next time, DFS. 

Everyone seemed to have forgotten that different rows have different parts so some revision went on. Parts one and two got a bit muddled by the bumptious part threes. A scratch of the head should bring them in at the right place. But the doo doo doos and the baa baa bass and a little oooo were still missing. 

Is it me or are those ooooooos rather complicated? After the first doo doo doos the doo doo doers can join in with the baa baa baas. Someone said Alan caught fire. 

And Golden Slumbers to finish. 

Well done DFS keep singing. Love, Cat xxx 

Weymouth Festival of Remembrance

Dorset for Singing met in the room of the ocean to practice getting into a nice line in order to go onstage. Some of us were already dressed and wearing poppies, others waiting until later to pull on their bright tops and black bottoms. In this picture I look like the one who smells bad. Truthfully though, no one ever wants to come forward straight away! Ed told us all to make 4 rows and smile, and we had a bit of a run through. 

The run through was probably steeped with nerves. As we felt the lights upon us some members came in too early, and some too late. But despite this hiccup, we all came back at 7.30pm determined to keep our collective eyes on Ed. Just before we went on, we were given this wonderful certificate of appreciation. How we laughed because we hadn’t done our bit yet! 

I’m delighted to share the following photos of us with permission of Weymouth Festival of Remembrance, with all credit to Graham Hunt Photography. Don’t we look cheerful in our veritable rainbow of coloured tops? We did one million times better on stage, and even remembered our cheekbones. I’d forgotten how hard it is to see the audience from beneath those bright lights! 

And Ed was so proud. He gave us an intimate double thumbs up in front of his chest where the audience didn’t see, and was grinning like the choir master who was getting a kebab for tea. Looking at the awesome photo below you can see pure love, of choir, of singing and of community spirit. 

It was a real honour to be part of this festival, and a great blessing to perform in a concert, our first since Christmas 2019. Well done DFS, You were amazing. But that’s not why I love you! Xxx